Veil:
by einderouge1
Summary: What if the Kenshin-gumi faces an unimaginable opponent? What is there beyond the veil of mystery which engulfs Kenshin and Tomoe's relationship?
1. Veil: CH01 - What was seen on that day

Kyoto, he had reached that place once again. The place he once drenched with blood, the stench that doesn't linger anymore. It has been far replaced by the scent of hakubaikō, her scent. As if floating in the midst of darkness, fresh red blood scattered all over her..

_white sleeves.._

_a purple shawl.._

and stark black eyes which pierced his soul to its deepest core. What made him snap out was Kaoru's unwavering voice, "Kenshin!"

"Oro?!"

2 weeks ago -

A distinguished-looking man named Yukinabe from the Ishida clan appeared at the Kamiya Dojo's doorsteps. Almost as if the house itself was some sort of deity, he dropped himself on his knees infront of the door, shoved his face on the ground and almost with teary eyes,

"Tasuketekudasai..."

… "One .. onegaishimasu!"

"Oro..ro?"

Unlike the drama a while back, that man seemed to have completely settled down in the dojo, and while eloquently sipping sea, started to share his saga, or so it seemed.

"Someone's targeting our clan. In this new age, most of the clans have either fallen or have been eradicated."

"It started a month ago when my fellow apprentice's body was found beside the river. There were no external wound and no sign of bleeding."

Kenshin-gumi was left speechless after hearing about the strange occurrence. They couldn't find words to express their curiosity, and while the silence enclosed the environment, suddenly..

"Yare, yare, bocchama~ that which you're trying to ask help for, might even be too much for that baka-deshi to handle."

"Hn~ Baka-deshi? Even I might not be en- Heh', I probably will be."

The man's enormous presence completely blew Yukinabe's attention towards him and he quickly stood up, as if he saw a ghost.

"Hiko - - Hiko Seijuro-sama?! Jū – Jū- Jūsandai?!"

As if rather annoyed by the youngman's almost pointless excitement,

"Settle down, young fellow. A man's excitement contaminates my Sake."

The man suddenly settled down at the order, resumed his story, "Before we could feel the shock of the event completely, another incident occurred. "

"The left-most wing of Ishida household is entirely used for education and research. Next day, what a servant of the household discovered was .."

".. one of the most heinous, disgusting scene one could think of."

Kenshin-gumi, Hiko; their gazes were fixated upon the young man who simply couldn't blow away the shock of what was seen on that day.

".. they were lying dead on the floor .. and.. and someone seemed to have painted one of the most exquisite patterns all over the room, in the room. "

"... in their blood."

…

The young man couldn't open speak further, he lowered his head so he could hide his clenching teeth and the turmoil inside.

Kenshin stood up,

"Yukinabe-dono, this lowly self cannot erase your pain.. but, if this Sakabatou can be of any help to you, this one will try till his last breath." and a painful smile engulfed the flame-haired man's face, as if he embraced the other one's pain as his own.

...

_Chapter inspiration: Mad soul child – Dear_

_Story Cover: I don't know_  
_**I don't own it in any-way.**_

_I **don't** own Rurouni Kenshin in any way and don't want to either._


	2. Veil: Ch02 - That which can't be seen

Kaoru walked up to the man and with her usual cheerful smile,

"You should eat and take some rest, it seems we have a long journey ahead of us."

Yahiko; "Kaoru, Kaoru!"

"Ano ne~ it won't help him much if you're the one cooking. He's better off wi-" &, he flung to the ground, obviously due to "Kaoru-Dono's" grace.

Kaoru, Yukinabe, Megumi, Sano and Yahiko, one by one all of them stepped inside the house, leaving the shishou and his deshi by themselves.

"Shishou, why are y-"

"Cut it out. A man does not need to waste his time after pointless questions."

Yes, he was a man like that.

"_Cherry blossoms in Spring..._

_In Summer, the stars..._

_In Autumn the full moon and in Winter the snow, _

_these are always enough to make Sake delicious."_

His affinity with life and his bond with Sake, they've always been like this, rigid, constant, unchanging.

"We are to start our journey tomorrow."

Saying that, he walked outside. Back to his own world, back to his own place, which was ..rigid, just as he was.

"_She was too.. like that .. "_

The sensation engulfed him as soon as that thought crossed his mind. The sensation he'd feel when he was with her. If he took one more step, he'd lose himself in her and as soon as he closed his eyes, the voices from the past appeared,

"_She fainted.. it's a natural reaction for seeing all this blood." A sigh of relief passed the man's lips as he held on to the woman of unexplainable beauty. Beauty that could undeniably drag Battousai's attention in midst of crowd and aura that would make him forget the cruelty in the bloody rain. _

"_For a moment I thought whether I should silence her or not –_

… _no, I forgot even that."_

"_Her perfume, that must be the scent of white plum." _

"_Not good. I must be going crazy."_

She was never there when he opened his eyes. Outsiders would think that she doesn't exist, some would think she lies in the grave, perhaps somewhere in his memories too but, for him, all it needed was stepping away from the outside World and face himself … and ..

she'd be there. As if he was the body and she was his soul,

as if, he was the shrine and she was its deity.

"_To..mo..-"_

He suddenly woke up and soon realized that he dozed off and she wasn't there, as if she didn't even belong there. She belonged to Kenshin, only to him.

She belonged to the depths of his soul, for him only..

.. for eternity.

Kaoru's voice; "Kenshin, aren't you coming to eat?"

"Hai-degozaru!"

Just like that, the night wore off and the dawn brought news of a new journey.

...

_Chapter inspiration:_ Apocalyptica - Nothing else matters

_"We only really see with the heart. The most important things can't be seen with the eyes." _


	3. Veil: Ch03 - Towards the Fallen Village

The next morning showed Kenshin-gumi, Hiko and Yukinabe in a carriage, heading towards a direction not quite known yet. It was unusual to see them silent, perhaps they weren't quite awake yet. In the midst of all these, the salient man kept on sipping Sake as if his surroundings never mattered and the rest of them weren't worth playing with.

Coachman; "Sir, what is our destination?"

There was a momentary pause between the Coachman's question and any sort of answer that he ended up getting. Hiko closed his eyes for a fleeting moment,

"Village of the fallen. We're headed towards the.. fallen village."

Coachman; "Fa—fallen village, Sir?"

Coachman; "Yes, got it!"

Kaoru's eyes flickered in fear. Fallen village was where that man lived, the man that was as broken as a mirror dropped on the floor, as if someone had squeezed his heart out and shattered him into pieces. The man whose misery sent shivers down her spine,

"_You mean Kenshin isn't back yet?" _

_Sanosuke; "Well, no point in worrying. The guy's practically invincible." He said that as if there was nothing that could make him doubt that. _

_Megumi; "Idiot, he most certainly is __not.__"_

_Hearing that, Kaoru's face turned pale. Kenshin's sole meaning of survival had been the protection of those in-front of him. That conviction would remain till his last breath._

_Tsubame; "Kenshin-san!_

_Kenshin-san's back!_

_But.. but.."_

_What they saw after that was a glimpse of Kenshin they had never seen before. He was away, far away where he couldn't be reached. He was seeing what couldn't be seen and he was hearing what couldn't be heard. The only response that they could think of was.. silence. _

_Tsubame; "Kaoru-san, you didn't even ask him anything.."_

_Kaoru; "I couldn't ask him._

_I have never seen him look like he had suffered so much before."_

_.._

"_This morning, on my way home, I received declaration of war from the mastermind behind all this.._

_Ten days from now, he'll attack the Kamiya dojo with all his forces.. _

_This man's name is Yukishiro Enishi. My brother."_

"_Your brother?!"_

"_More accurately, my brother-in-law.._

_the brother of Himura Tomoe, the wife I killed with my own hands."_

_.._

"_So, that's it. That's why he didn't kill me. The image of his sister's death when he was young.. the shock, so great that it turned his hair white, left a deep scar in his heart. He has lost the ability to face any young woman without seeing his sister in her. So no matter how much he wants to kill me in his head, his body will refuse. So.. it's not that he wouldn't kill me.. he couldn't.."_

With unsettled feelings in Kaoru's heart and unknown ones in the others, they had reached the village of the fallen with doubts crawling up their veins and minds drifting aimlessly like a vagabond.

..

* * *

_Chapter inspiration: _**Skillet – Lucy**

* * *

**Porcelain doll that has its wings  
that sees the sky and tries to sing  
relinquishing havoc among those that lost  
you're bound to turn into a porcelain doll. **


	4. Veil: Ch04 - Meeting with Enishi

"Regardless of his past, that fellow is an unsurpassed genius." Hiko spoke as if meeting him had an underlying reason.

"But, Yukishiro Enishi is-"

"It's alright, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin smiled as he would usually. The smile that would cleanse her of all the fears and insecurities inside.

What was easily overlooked at that point was Yukinabe's growing distortion in his heart.

"Yu- Yukishiro Enishi?!"

"You mean to say from Kantō's Yukishiro household?!"

"Enishi-sama, Enishi-sama is alive?"

The boy almost broke into tears. Although, tears in his eyes were nothing surprising however, what probably surprised them was him being familiar with Enishi.

"How do you know him?" The question probably appeared in all of their heads and it wouldn't be exaggerating to say that they felt relieved when Megumi asked that question however the man couldn't find ways to answer that.

"Speak out, young twerp."

"Yukishiro household, were you acquainted with them personally?"

The man gulped all his courage, all of what he could find,

"They were acquainted with the masters of Ishida clan."

"No.. perhaps that would be wrong to say. Although, the Yukishiro family was well-off, the head was still only a low-level bureaucrat."

"However, Enishi-sama's mother was a hime from..

.. from the Uesugi clan. A person of my status shouldn't even be able to talk to someone of that blood, let alone knowing him personally."

"But.. we had heard that Tomoe-sama - - ..

Enishi-sama's elder sister.. passed away and that he had disappeared."

"But.. but! Everyone tried to look for Enishi-sama but, his whereabouts were completely unknown.. he was just a child then.."

Kenshin had seen it. He saw the grief in that boy's heart. A scar like that existed in his own heart too. _His paradoxal desire to save people by killing others, destroyed what he loved above all else. _

"_Enishi.. his hair was snow white.. that's the form his pain took."_

"_Tomoe.."_

The woman who had saved his soul, who now rests in his heart.

"But! If Enishi-sama is alive then maybe .. Tomoe-sama too - -.."

"Nee-san is dead."

The man was surely deviant. Much more so than the last time when Kenshin fought him. His white hair, which grew to his shoulders, perfectly contrasting with his beautiful face. His clothes were ragged and dirty and wrapped around his shoulders, hung a tattered cape.

"She isn't here anymore. She'll never come back."

He knew that, he knew it all too well. For the past 10 years he had been living with his soul in the grave. Her voice, her scent .. even the faint sound of her breaths were curved in his mind. She never spoke much but, that's all he needed – more than all the noise in the streets of Tokyo but - - .. those were the indication of peaceful times. The fear in the streets were replaced with the sound of children running around freely. The happiness in the hearts of those that were close to him, the happiness of the one who loved him selflessly regardless of his past, who had given him a place to return to, to whom he had sworn to go back to, filled him up with peace. Yet, why did he still look for her? They were together no more.

No, he couldn't - - .. he had to stop himself from yearning. Yearning for that touch, that sensation, that existence which he .. destroyed with his own hands. He had to stop from losing himself in the hallucination once again. He had to protect what was real.

..

Yukinabe had explained the happenings of Ishida clan to Enishi. It didn't seem to budge him at all.

"Enishi-sama.. they used techniques which were native among those of Kamo clan. However, that doesn't seem to be possible considering they were annihilated."

"Stop adding -sama every time you say my name. It's annoying."

"and.. this has nothing to do with me so, leave!"

"But.. but.. Enishi-sam- .. Enishi-san!"

"Senryu-sama has searched for you relentlessly for all these years. For these ten years, he searched for you everywhere."

"Onee-san?"


End file.
